1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card connector attached to an electronic instrument or an information terminal equipment such as a portable telephone, a home telephone, PDA (a personal digital assistance), a portable type audio set or a camera, particularly to a card connector capable of smoothly inserting or withdrawing a card such as an IC card or an SD card.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in electronic instruments of information terminal equipment, such as portable telephones, home telephones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), portable audio devices, or cameras, the use of an IC card, a PC card, an SD card or a SIM card in which a CPU or an IC part called a memory IC chip is incorporated has widely prevailed. As a result, a card connector capable of receiving such a small-sized memory card as an IC card, a PC card, an SD card, or a SIM card has been required.
Also, in the conventional card connector of this a type, there has been a market requirement for reducing a height of the connector and minimizing a size thereof while maintaining a sufficient strength and durability to withstand the forces associated with inserting and withdrawing the card. Also, it has been required that the inserted card is easily ejectable from the card connector. To satisfy such requirements, a hollow connector housing has an upper housing member on the upper surface thereof as a cover member, which cover member is incorporated into a lower housing member made of an insulating material as a connector body as disclosed in Laid-Open Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2001-143815 and 2001-143789, to provide a card ejecting mechanism for easily ejecting a card.
In FIGS. 24 to 28 of the attached drawings, one example of the conventional card connector of such a type is illustrated as a prior art; that is, there are the entirety of the card connector and the lower housing member as the connector body from which the cover member is removed to show the ejecting mechanism and a plurality of contacts. FIG. 24 is a perspective view of an appearance of the conventional card connector in a prior art, FIG. 25 is a perspective view of the conventional card connector of FIG. 24, from which the upper housing member which is the cover member is removed, FIG. 26 is a bottom perspective view of the lower housing member shown in FIG. 25 as seen from the lower side, FIG. 27 is an enlarged bottom perspective view of part of the lower housing member of FIG. 26, and FIG. 28 is a bottom perspective view of an ejecting member.
As illustrated, the conventional card connector 100 includes a lower housing member 102 as a connector body, an upper housing member 103 which is a cover member for forming a hollow housing structure in combination with the lower housing member 102, an ejecting mechanism 104 for ejecting a card, and a plurality of contacts 105 electrically connected to the card.
In this conventional card connector 100, the lower housing member 102 as the connector body is molded with an insulating material such as a suitable synthetic resinous material, and combined with the upper housing member 103 as the cover member made of a metallic sheet material to form a hollow flat housing for accommodating the inserted card. The ejecting mechanism 104 is provided along one side of the lower housing member 102 made of the insulating material to smoothly withdrawing the card from the card connector 100, and the plurality of contacts 105 are provided to be connected to pad sections arranged at a tip end of the card inserted into the card connector 100.
The ejecting mechanism 104 in the conventional card connector 100 includes, for example, an ejecting member 106 as a slider mounted to be slidable along one edge of the lower housing member 102, a spring member 107 such as a coil spring for elastically biasing this ejecting member 106, and a pushing member 108 formed integral with the ejecting member 106 for pushing the card outside from the card connector 100, to elastically push the ejecting member 106 due to the elastic pushing force of the spring member 107 and eject the card outside via the pushing member 108. The pushing member 108 extends generally in the right angle direction relative to the operating direction of the ejecting member 106, and is adapted to be brought into contact with the tip end of the card and operable via the ejecting member 106.
However, when the conventional card connector 100 is used, while the card such as an IC card, a PC card, an SD card, or a SIM card is inserted therein, the spring member 107 of the compressive type such as a coil spring is compressed by the ejecting member 106 provided integral with the pushing member 108. The card is pushed by the bias of the spring member 107 when the card is ejected, because one end of the spring member 107 is engaged with an engagement section 109 of the lower housing member 102, while the other end thereof is engaged with the ejecting member 106.
Accordingly, in the conventional card connector of this type, since the spring member 107 is engaged at one end to the engagement member 109 of the lower housing member 102 of the insulating material and at the other end to the ejecting member 106, a length of the ejecting member 106 becomes longer, and a total length of the card connector 100 becomes longer as a whole, resulting in a problem in that the card connector is difficult to be minimized in size as a whole.